Mud army marches against old foe

IT is now a familiar foe - a deadly torrent of murky brown water raging against its disaster-weary residents.

But familiarity doesn't make it any easier - or less devastating.

Queensland, a state seemingly at war with the weather, is for the second time in two years fighting an unwinnable battle against the brute force of a once in a 100 year flood - a phrase that is quickly losing its impact.

For towns which became synonymous with terror when a wall of water buried them in 2011 and washed away 38 lives, this was the return of a nightmare they hope had been consigned to history.

Throughout the devastated Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane, they had painstakingly rebuilt, picked up the pieces of their battered lives.

They had mourned those loved ones unable to escape the deadly deluge, and sought to move on.

But heartbreak has marched back into town.

Here many of the record watermarks reached in 2011, which were barely dry on the measuring posts that are spiked beside the swollen rivers and creeks, have been eclipsed. Some by as many as 3m, as in the case of Tent Hill Creek.

Homes in Grantham were once again inundated, the township of Laidley was utterly swamped by a churning brown sea with hundreds of homes and business flooded, and more than 350 properties in Ipswich and in Goodna were engulfed when the Bremer River broke its banks and peaked at 15m.

Although water had already claimed streets in its inner suburbs and CBD, Brisbane will tonight play a waiting game ahead of a peak on the Brisbane River scheduled for lunch today that will see more than 3600 homes and businesses flooded.

In scenes reminiscent of 2011, the mud army of volunteers were back out yesterday trying to help.

But of greatest concern to authorities last night was the extent and the sheer speed of floodwaters in Bundaberg that forced the complete, and mandatory evacuation of the city's northern suburbs.

Authorities warned people who refused to leave that they were risking their lives, and used loudspeaker broadcasts from helicopters flying over the town to tell people they must evacuate.

It was an early measure that was a potential life saver, as a torrent of floodwater travelling in excess of 75knots uprooted trees, threatened to pick up homes in its unyielding path, and made boat rescues impossible.

For those whose escape was left too late, a flock of 16 helicopters, including two Black Hawk choppers, became angels. Brave crews battled high winds, flying from house to house and plucking around 1500 residents from their rooftops in a series of daring rescues that continued after dark.

Some families waited in treacherous, dicey conditions on slippery rooftops for hours, having punched holes in ceilings to escape rising waters in their loungerooms.

When the Burnett River reaches its peak at close to 10m, more than 2000 homes are expected to be engulfed by floodwaters that are the highest ever recorded in the city's history.

Premier Campbell Newman said he had feared for the lives of Bundaberg North residents.

"The velocity of the water, and the rises in the water levels, means that literally houses, particularly in north Bundaberg, and maybe other locations, could be swept away," he said.

The floodwaters have already claimed three lives, but fears remain that figure will rise and the true extent of the damage is realised.

A motorcyclist was swept to his death as he tried to cross the Oxley Creek south of Brisbane, an 81-year-old man drowned near Bundaberg, while a 27-year-old disabled man was swept from his parents arms when floodwater took their car at Gympie. Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale said the burden which had once again fallen on the shoulders of his residents, and those throughout the region, would be too much for some to carry.

They've been here before, encountered the horrors and paid the cost.

Some will again rebuild, others will literally head to higher ground.

"This is the start of our emotional pummelling," Mr Pisasale said.

"We are a city in very emotional stress at the moment. We'll survive, but I tell you what, it does get to you." What is working in the favour of authorities is the management of water levels at the state's dams, with early intervention aimed at averting the disasters of 2011 - when water released from dams caused flash flooding through the Lockyer Valley - proving successful.

The taps were switched off at the Wivenhoe Dam early yesterday, but scheduled releases in recent weeks had already reduced the capacity to 66 per cent. Lessons well learned.